


four, five, six, seven minutes in the closet

by stefonzolesky



Series: my rollercoaster [3]
Category: Arrested Development
Genre: M/M, the blunder installment of this series, trans gob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 16:10:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13593687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefonzolesky/pseuds/stefonzolesky
Summary: Gob laughs haltingly.He’s sweating, and he can’t figure out if it’s from nerves, or from the atmosphere of the club, or maybe he’s been wearing his binder for too long. Probably a combination of the three.





	four, five, six, seven minutes in the closet

Gob, for all his uncertainty, is pretty certain about the life of partying that he thrusts himself into once he reaches the late end of his twenties. He has his magic, and he has alcohol, and he has pills -  _ thank fuck for the pills.  _ He can’t say he doesn’t expect it when Michael grows distant again, though. It’s just how Michael has always been, and how Gob expects that he will always be. 

One night at a bar near the model home, Gob runs into Tony Wonder. His breath leaves his chest and he finds it hard to form words, his mouth opening and closing and opening and closing, and Tony hasn’t even  _ noticed  _ him yet. His chest tightens.

“Hi,” He finally manages to say.

Tony glances over at him, a little startled. “Hey.” His eyes flick over Gob’s body, and Gob suddenly feels self-conscious. “Do I know you, or something?”

“What?” Gob laughs haltingly. “No, no you… No.” He’s sweating, and he can’t figure out if it’s from nerves, or from the atmosphere of the club, or maybe he’s been wearing his binder for too long. Probably a combination of the three.

Tony’s eyebrows furrow. “No, yeah, I definitely know you from somewhere.” His eyes narrow a little bit, and it’s weird, the way he’s analyzing Gob.

It makes Gob’s stomach flip and his skin crawl. He thinks back to the shows he’s attended of Tony’s, and eventually settles on, “I’m a magician, you might have… I’ve come to some of your shows, and--”

“Shit!” Tony laughs. “You’re that girl that totally crashed one of my shows with that stupid dance of yours! The Bluth girl! They wrote about you in  _ Poof! _ for that.”

Gob winces, because he feels like Tony should be mad, but for some reason, he’s just laughing. “Yeah.” Gob grimaces. “Uh. Not a girl.”

Tony’s eyes flick over Gob’s body again. He takes a sip of his drink. “Right. Duly noted.”

Some of the tension leaves Gob’s shoulders. “Are you not… upset about the chicken dance, or whatever? I thought you would be pissed.”

“I was, at first,” Tony admits. “But that takes guts. You’ve got guts.”

“Yeah?” Pride swells up in Gob’s chest. He can’t help but smile. “I’m glad you think so.”

Tony takes another sip of his drink. “So. Why did you come over here, uh…” He pauses. “Sorry, I didn’t actually get your name.”

“Gob,” Gob tells him. He hesitates. “Well, it’s actually George, but that’s my dad’s name. Nobody calls me that. He didn’t… He was…” He wrestles with his words for a second before he decides that Tony really doesn’t need the whole tragic backstory. “Nevermind. You’re practically a stranger, I don’t wanna… Nevermind.”

Tony laughs a little. “Loosen up, man. You don’t need to worry so much.”

“Sorry.” Gob tries to match the laugh, but it just comes out strangled and nervous. “I’ve had a rough time with my family recently. So I’ve been drinking away my problems, as you do. That’s what most people are doing here, at least. This isn’t the best place in the world to pick up chicks, per se.”

“Naturally,” Tony says. “Don’t worry about it, man. I totally get that. I’m not necessarily here to down my problems, but I’ve done my fair share of it in the past.”

Gob breathes out a sigh of relief, and it stings. He bites back a wince. Tony’s eyebrows furrow.

“Are you alright?” He leans against the bar. “You just… physically winced. Is something up?”

“What? Yeah.” Gob shoves his hands in his pockets. “Fine. I just had some trouble breathing, and all. It’s whatever. Anyway.” He clears his throat, trying to change the subject. “Tell me about yourself, huh? I know you’re a magician, obviously, but what else?” It’s weird, for Gob to be asking questions about someone else, but he’s a little bit flustered and a little bit drunk and he genuinely wants to know for once in his life.

Tony shrugs. “There’s not much else to me, I guess. I’m pretty… out there. I’m…” He shrugs again. “I don’t know. You’re way more interesting than I am. Do you live around here?”

“Yeah, actually.” Gob tries to be present in the conversation, but it’s hard to not get hung up on the fact that Tony thinks he’s interesting. “I walk here almost every day. I’m really big on that whole ‘drowning your sorrows in alcohol’ thing.”

“Aren’t we all.” Tony snickers. “Yeah, man, this place is the shit. Cheap beer and people to talk to? I think I should come down more often.”

Gob bites hard on his lip and then blurts, “Yeah, I think I’d like to see you around here more often.”

Tony halts. His eyebrows furrow. “Are you flirting with me?”

“I don’t know,” Gob admits. “Maybe a little bit? There’s no telling.”

“Huh.” Tony throws back the rest of his drink and winces when it hits his throat. He puts the bottle down. “I’m into it.”

Gob looks startled. “You are?”

Tony makes a face as if to say ‘why not?’ and orders another drink. “It’s not very often that cute, brave guys flirt with me. Usually it’s just fucking weirdos and drunk whores that I have no interest in sleeping with.”

“Huh.” Gob laughs, standing up straighter as his confidence starts to come back. “What do you say we get out of here, then?”

They end up at the model home, entering on their toes to make sure that they don’t wake up Michael or Tracey or their son. Gob gestures for Tony to be careful how loud he walks until they can get their shoes off.

“My brother is sleeping,” Gob whispers. He goes up the stairs as quickly as he can, into the guest room with the two beds that Lindsay and Tobias always stay in when they visit. It looks nicer, like Michael just cleaned it up

“This place is a piece of shit,” Tony snickers. Gob rolls his eyes, but he can’t help but agree.

The rest of the night is sort of a blur, filled with two bottles of vodka that Gob found under the bed that Lindsay stays in and a lot of kissing.

When he wakes up in the morning, Tony is still asleep, and Gob takes a minute to observe the damage to the room. There’s glitter in the sheets and broken glass on the floor, and the whole room reeks of paint and alcohol. Michael is actually going to  _ kill him. _

All things considered, though, he thinks that it might be worth it. 


End file.
